In Patent Document 1, there is disclosed a packet forwarding device with which it is possible to collect a plurality of flows into one flow bundle which may then be processed or handled. Specifically, the packet forwarding device of the Patent Document includes a flow detection device and a control device. The flow detection device discriminates, from the header information of an input packet, the flow to which the input packet belongs, and outputs flow bundle identification which is innate to the discriminated flow or which is common to at least one other flow. The control device has an information table including a plurality of information entries corresponding to the flow bundle identification. The control device reads out a single information entry from the information table, based on the flow bundle identification received from the flow detection device, in order to execute a pre-set operation.
In Non-Patent Documents 1, 2, there is proposed an open flow (OpenFlow) which similarly comprehends communication as an end-to-end flow (see Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2). The open flow optimizes route control, recovery from malfunctions, load balancing and optimization on the flow-by-flow basis. The open-flow switch, operating as a forwarding node, includes a secure channel for communication with an open flow controller that may be deemed as a controller. The open-flow switch operates in accordance with a flow table that is instructed from time to time to add or re-write its entries.